Did you hear?
by Snow Tigra
Summary: There's a rumor going around Konoha about a new couple, but it's got to be just a rumor. Right? ShikamaruxChouji waff


Fic challenge needed to include:  
- a beer bottle - Hello Kitty - something broken - a talking inanimate object - large amounts of poking 

Title: Did you hear?  
Author: Snow Tigra  
Pairing: ShikamaruxChouji  
Warnings: None really, just me having fun with a fic challenge.

Poke.

Sasuke groaned and rolled over in bed, ignoring the one who'd appeared beside him. He didn't want to wake up. It was the one morning that they didn't have training or lessons or anything like that, the one morning he'd actually convinced himself to sleep in… and here was this pest of a boy perched at the edge of his bed, poking him of all things. Sasuke considered killing him, but that would have meant waking up.

"Sasuke…" Poke. Poke.

"Go away." He muttered angrily and pulled the blankets over his head in a very unfriendly and angry manner. One more poke and Naruto was dead.

"Sasuke, wake up. You have to hear this."

Sasuke did wake up. But only enough to sit up and throw a pillow at Naruto's head in some version of a half-assed throw. Naruto dodged it as if it weren't even there and the pillow hit a picture on the wall, sending it crashing to the ground. Sasuke growled in anger and buried himself back under the covers. Maybe if he ignored Naruto, the little brat would just go away.

(switch)

"Sakura-chan!"

Sakura blinked and peeked her head out her window, surprised to see Naruto below. The short obnoxious little blond boy was smiling brightly and waving his arms. Sakura considered snapping some comment at him, but it was too nice of a day to really be mean, and he wasn't being annoying yet. Instead she turned and left the window, coming out the front door a moment later. "Naruto? What are you doing up this early?"

"I got news, I got news!"

Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes. What in the world could make him so peppy this early in the morning. She admitted she was awake, but she wasn't bouncing off the walls like some incessant little ball that yelled and insisted on being played with until you finally relented or tossed it in a locked chest.

"All right, fine, what kind of news?"

"Come see!" Without warning Naruto grabbed her hand and pulled her down the street, not letting her go or even have a chance to protest. Sakura stumbled after him with a cry of surprise, but decided not to complain too much. After all… she was curious.

(switch)

"Did you hear?"

Hinata looked up from the flowers she was looking at in the shop. She'd been examining a small bouquet that was in the back by all the cute little accessories that such shops were required to carry. Recently they'd gotten in a set of small figurines in the shape of a little fat white cat, standing on its two back feet with a large head and a small face. Hinata thought they were so cute, but she was too embarrassed to actually let anyone know that she was looking at something so childish. So she'd decided to inspect the flowers next to them instead, and glance over every second or so at what she really wanted.

"Did you hear about them?" Ino pressed, repeating herself. By now she wasn't at the front counter anymore, instead she was next to Hinata and cutely poking her shoulder, a mischievous smile on her face.

"Hear what?" Hinata asked quietly, turning away. Would Ino tell if she wanted to buy one of the weird cats? Where would she put it? It didn't seem right for the one in charge of the Hyouga clan to have such a cute and childish thing in her room, even if it was Hinata. Still, she really wanted the one in the overalls and the pink bow.

"Come with me and see, I promise you'll like it. It's real cute."

Hinata blushed a bit at the reference of her liking cute things. Maybe, if she agreed and went with Ino, maybe she could convince her not to tell about the cat…

Ino turned and took off her apron, tossing it next to the counter, but missing so it landed haphazardly and uncared for on the floor. Then she took Hinata's hand and rushed out of the shop, stopping only to pull the door shut and flip the lock, then she and Hinata were off, heading toward the middle of the village, Hinata's mind still on the cute kitties.

(switch)

Naruto smirked as he came out the door on the roof. Standing ahead of him, crouched at the edge of the roof and watching the next building over, were Ino and Hinata. They seemed to be eagerly discussing girl type stuff as they looked around. For a moment Naruto complete forgot about what he was there for and he walked very silently up behind them.

Poke. Poke.

Ino jumped and whirled around, glaring at Naruto and ready to yell. The yell withered in her throat as she suddenly remembered behind them and she ducked down, grabbing Naruto and pulling him to the ground.

"What are you doing?" She hissed.

"Ino?"

Ino looked up to see Sakura exiting the door and both blinked at each other in surprise. Naruto took the moment to dart out of Ino's grasp and smile widely.

"We came to see them."

"You know too?" Ino's eyes widened a bit more in surprise.

Sakura nodded. "Naruto pulled me here. Exactly who are we talking about?"

"Look over there, on the next roof over and don't be too loud."

Sakura walked over to the edge of the roof, careful to hide herself as much as possible. She frowned when Naruto poked her, prompting her to move so he could see, but held her tongue for the umpteenth time. She must have been in a good mood since she was holding her tongue this much around him.

The building across from them was quite high, a favorite night time retreat for those who had a like for watching the stars or waking up under the moon. It would have been the perfect place for teens to sneak away for a little night time retreat, had it not been built directly in the middle of the village next to the large structure which usually housed the Hokage. People tended to shy away from the roof because of it, but some were still adventurous enough to risk it as Sakura could make out the leftovers of previous visitors ranging from empty brown drinking bottles to discarded bags of chips.

Beyond those small pieces of discarded trash, two people lay across a picnic table which had been set up there many tears ago, the wood cracking and browning with age. One wore his normal outfit, looking lazy as ever as he gazed up at the sky, while the other sat next to him, half leaning back as he munched on one of his ever present bag of chips.

"Shikamaru and Chouji?" Sasuke now stood behind them, apparently haven't pulled himself out of bed even though he'd initially complained at Naruto's bothering him. Damn that blond for making him curious.

"They look cute together, don't they Hinata?" Ino elbowed her a bit to get her to agree. Hinata just blushed and ducked her head, nodding a bit.

"So you knew?" Sakura looked over at Ino. "How long?"

Ino shrugged. "You kidding? Shikamaru never looks at women. Says they're too troublesome, as always. And he always hangs around with Chouji… I thought they were practicing, but it turns out they just come up here every day. And that's all they do."

"I bet they kiss when no one's looking." Naruto whispered in a secretive voice.

"Naruto!" Sakura frowned at him. As if those two boys would actually like each other. The notion was just silly. Naruto just giggled and moved closer to the edge of the roof to get a better look.

(switch)

As if there was anything to look at.

Shikamaru watched out of the corner of his eye as the shapes moved on the roof next to them. Weren't they ninja? Didn't they know how to hide themselves? Rumors could be so troublesome…

"Should we worry about them?" Chouji asked, eating another chip. He tilted the bag down so Shikamaru could take a chip or two – which no doubt resulted in versions of 'how cute' from across the street. Shikamaru shrugged and took a chip, eating it slowly as he looked back up at the clouds.

"Who cares about them. They're already making comments about how cute and how sweet, doesn't matter now. They're probably assuming something silly like we kissed or something."

Chouji stopped eating his chips for a moment and tilted his head, as if to examine the one he was holding. "Really?"

"Yeah, girls think of troublesome things like that," Shikamaru muttered.

"Hm." Chouji examined the chip a bit more, then dropped it back in the bag, handing it to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru looked over to him in question, wondering what could actually have made his friend stop eating. Chouji always ate his chips, even the last one. Shikamaru knew the last one was all that was left in the bag, and yet Chouji had just given it to him.

Chouji never gave up the last chip.

"Chouji?" Shikamaru sat up and opened his mouth to ask his friend a question. But then Chouji did the most unexpected thing in the world.

Chouji kissed him.

It was short and it was small, barely even a touch, and it reminded Shikamaru of the types of kisses that you saw little girls give during day care soon followed by them running away giggling and blushing like mad. The kind of small kisses that made most boys pucker up their faces and make disgusted noises, it not even crossing their minds that it might be something they liked. Very short and then it was done and Chouji was just watching him, a nervous look on his face.

"Now you're getting troublesome too," Shikamaru said, but a smirk was slowly growing across his face.

Chouji just smiled back, the smile covering most of his face. He hadn't been this happy since the day Shikamaru had followed him back from that rejected game and decided to watch the clouds with him for the first time.

"Very troublesome," Chouji simply responded.

Shikamaru just shrugged and moved to lay back down. Except this time he shifted and rested his head in Chouji's lap.

Funny. The clouds looked more peaceful from here.

The end.


End file.
